Joe Biden announced that the United States will donate 20 million vaccines against Covid-19

The first 60 million doses will all come from AstraZeneca, once the vaccine has been approved by US health officials. The injections developed by the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company have yet to be used in the United States and it seems increasingly unlikely that they will be needed.

“The United States will send 20 million doses authorized for use to the United States by the end of June to help countries fight the pandemic,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, AFP reported.

The official announced that President Joe Biden will officially communicate the measure in a televised speech during the day.

The announcement comes as pressure has mounted on the Biden administration to use its large vaccine surplus to help other countries, as the vaccination campaign in the United States has made significant progress.

Psaki declined to comment on which countries would be the priority recipients of the shipments, but Biden said Washington would do everything possible to help India cope with the worsening pandemic.

The first 60 million doses will all come from AstraZeneca, once the vaccine has been approved by US health officials. The injections developed by the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company have yet to be used in the United States and it seems increasingly unlikely that they will be needed.

Psaki did not specify which vaccine the additional 20 million doses would correspond to, and only said that these would be “other doses of approved vaccines.”

The spokeswoman said the figure of 80 million multiplies by five “the greatest amount of doses given by a country in the world”.